Bulldozers and other bladed vehicles have many adjustments that are necessary to maintain the blade in the proper orientation for grading or digging the ground. Some of these adjustments may be easily carried out using readily available hand tools that are kept with the operator or on the vehicle. Some of them use specialized tools that are often misplaced or forgotten after the adjustments are performed.
One of the common features to adjust on a bladed vehicle is the pitch of the blade. The pitch of a dozer blade controls the angle the blade is at with respect to the ground when viewing the blade from the side. If the pitch is changed by tilting the top of the blade-away from the cab of the vehicle, the blade engages the ground at a sharper angle and cuts more deeply into the ground. If the pitch is changed to tilt the top of the blade toward the cab of the vehicle, the blade engages the ground at a shallower angle and tends to scrape the ground more than dig down into it. When pitched back, this position is known as the carry position, which allows the blade to carry a larger load.
The blade pitch is changed relatively frequently when using a bulldozer or other bladed vehicle. The pitch controls the aggressiveness of cut, and the ability to control the aggressiveness of cut often changes as the vehicle moves from one portion of a work site to another portion. Furthermore, the pitch of the blade may be preferably changed when the texture, composition or moisture content of the soil changes. It should be clear that any of a variety of factors can make it desirable to change the pitch of the blade to better grade or scrape the soil.
Most bulldozers and bladed vehicles are provided with adjustment devices to adjust the pitch of their blades. These adjustment devices typically include a link whose length is adjustable to change the blade pitch. These links, however are typically not adjustable by hand, but are configured to require an external tool to change their length or otherwise adjust them. These tools may be misplaced, left on the vehicle, fall off and disappear when the pitch is adjusted.
What is needed therefore is a system for adjusting the pitch of a blade that reduces the possibility that the adjusting tool will be lost. What is also needed is a blade adjustment tool that can be quickly and easily used to reduce the downtime necessary to adjust the blade. What is further needed is a way of storing the adjusting tool that reduces the need for additional storage on the vehicle. What is also needed is an adjusting tool that will serve to reduce the costs of the vehicle by combining the functions of a pitch cover guard and an adjusting tool. It is an object of this invention to provide one or more of these benefits and advantages in one or more of the embodiments described below.